He grew up on the frontier plains of Oklahoma, golfed for the Oklahoma Sooners and set out on a pro golf career that sometimes became maddening.
At point a couple of years ago, Max McGreevy stopped in Springfield on the Korn Ferry Tour. A year ago, he flew to China to hone his craft and see if maybe, just maybe, he could find the formula that fit.
You can certainly say he did. McGreevy surged on Sunday and won the 31st PGA Korn Ferry Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper. He carded an overall score of 21-under-par 267 at Highland Springs Country Club, including a sizzling, 8-under-par 64 on Sunday alone.
His final round featured an eagle on No. 11 – arguably one of the most challenging holes on the course – and birdied six other holes. With it, he edged Jose de Jesus Rodriguez by one stroke and earned a $117,000 check. Chad Ramey was third at 19-under-par.
This on a day that began with recent Stanford University standout Brandon Wu, in his Korn Ferry Tour debut after playing in the Walker Cup, holding the overall lead. By 10 a.m., Ramey, a former Mississippi State standout Chad Ramey, had the lead.
Ultimately, McGreevy, an Edmond, Okla., native, gave a shout-out to the PCCC Volunteer Army, which included 225 marshals, 70 walking scorers, 30 handling on-course services and many more.
“All the volunteers here, I can’t thank you enough,” McGreevy said. “We didn’t have any spectators, but we had a whole heck of a lot of volunteers, so it sure felt like a whole lot of volunteers.”
McGreevy earned his Korn Ferry Tour membership last year after playing on the PGA Tour Series-China. That came after he played in 16 Korn Ferry Tour events in 2018, making the cut only seven times.
But he surged this weekend. McGreevy carded a 64 on Thursday and stayed in the hunt.
He was assured victory Sunday when Rodriguez missed a long putt on 18.
McGreevy took over the lead on 16 with a birdie.
That came after a tremendous performance on No. 11, a par 5 whose fairway breaks hard to the left with trees hugging the left side of the fairway. The green sits up on an embankment, with sand traps right in front. The pin was placed more toward the far east west side of the green, almost completely opposite from Saturday’s placement.
“I had no idea where I was at (on the leaderboard),” McGreevy said. “I pulled my drive on 11, got lucky went through a couple of trees and ended up in the fairway. Fortunately, my two playing competitors hit right before me, so I knew exactly where I was playing and hit a perfect 6-iron from 8 to 10 feet. I hadn’t made an eagle all week, so I wanted to bury it. But I didn’t know where it was going to get me to.”
Wu bogeyed Nos. 3 and 4 and later bogeyed No. 12. Rodriguez bogeyed No. 1 but had six birdies the rest of his round. Ramey moved into the lead by No. 8 as he birdied six holes on the front nine. But he bogeyed No. 12.
Daniel Sutton, who was seeking to be a Cinderella story after Monday qualifying, finished at 18-under. He eagled No. 1 and birdied Nos. 5 and 8 but bogeyed No. 5 and No. 18.